Judge Memorial Catholic High School's literary magazine has been awarded the rank of "Above Average" in the 2009 National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) program to recognize excellence in student literary magazines.

Linda Simpson serves as the faculty advisor for Judge's renowned literary magazine, Catharsis, a publication that has won several national awards of excellence for the past sixteen years. Jamie Pisciotta and Tom Luchs served as student editors of the 2009 issue of Catharsis.

A total of 425 schools entered the 2009 program. NCTE’s program to recognize excellence in literary magazines recognizes students, teachers and schools for producing excellent literary magazines. The program’s mission is to encourage all schools to develop literary magazines, seeing excellence in writing and school-wide participation in production. The National Association of Secondary School Principals has placed this program on the NASSP National Advisory List of Student Contests in Activities for 2009-2010.

The 2009 issue featured student work in the areas of prose, photograph, art and poetry. The theme, according to the editor’s page, revolved around industry: “It is a timely comment on today’s world as we become more and more machine-like. This book reflects the gears imbedded in our mind, helping us to create our art. The cover shows the aging of our work, the content pages show the process we take, and the book itself represents our complete product.”

Mrs. Simpson and the staff of the literary magazine routinely announce the publication of the magazine late each spring. Please stay tuned for an announcement of the release of the 2010 edition.

= = = = = = = = = =

A few copies remain of the award-winning 2009 issue. If you would like to purchase one for yourself or as a gift, they are available for sale at $16.00 per issue, including tax, shipping and handling. Please contact the Advancement Office, 801.517.2182.